Floating Anti-Plastic Waste Dam To Be Tested In 2016 In North Sea

One of the ocean's best trash collectors, a revolutionary floating dam that traps plastic and other types of waste choking the Earth's oceans will be tested for the first time in 2016, the Ocean Cleanup foundation announced.

"It will be the first time our barrier design will be put to the test in open waters," the foundation wrote in a new release. 

The foundation claimed the 100 meter-long (328 feet) barrier segment will be situated 23 kilometers off the coast of the Netherlands during the second quarter of the year. The majority of ocean waste is collected via boats, which scour the surf for the plastic flotsam and jetsam which causes seals, dolphin and other sea creatures to be entangled.

The new barrier uses currents to gradually trap waves of waste, while it allows fish and other types of creatures to freely pass through. The foundation claimed that the goal of the North Sea test on Dutch environments is to "to monitor the effects of real-life sea conditions, with a focus on waves and currents."

Plastic waste poses great harm to marine life, where plastic bags and bottles are frequently ingested by sea creatures and they are sometimes even entangled in between plastic waste. For instance, sea turtles sometimes mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. These contaminants then enter the food chain, where they are connected to cancer, infertility and other types of health issues.

By 2020, the foundation intends to install a 100-kilometer-long V-shaped floating barrier in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a vortex in the North Pacific that collects trash. The arms of the V would consist of a screen that is three meters deep, which will black waste and channel it into a main point where will be collected and recycled. 

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